The Boy Who Cried Wolf
by B G Hennessy (Author) Boris Kulikov (Illustrator)
A boy tending sheep on a lonely mountainside thinks it a fine joke to cry "wolf" and watch the people come running--and then one day a wolf is really there, but no one answers his call. Nothing ever happens here, the shepherd thinks. But the bored boy knows what would be exciting: He cries that a wolf is after his sheep, and the town's people come running. How often can that trick work, though?
B.G. Hennessy's retelling of this timeless fable is infused with fanciful whimsy through Boris Kulikov's hilarious and ingenious illustrations. This tale is sure to leave readers grinning sheepishly.
Locate at a Library Near You WorldCat is the world's largest library catalog, helping you find library materials online.
Find books about:
Publishers Weekly
Hennessy ("Claire and the Unicorn Happy Ever After", reviewed below) and Kulikov ("Morris the Artist") retell a well-known story with humorous verve. Kulikov slyly sets the scene in a Renaissance Italian landscape. He pictures the shoeless shepherd chewing on a stem; lazy butterflies, birds and dragonflies flit about. Hennessy's conversational style meanwhile brings the 16th-century peasant into present-day focus: " 'I am "so" bored, ' he thought. 'All day long all I do is watch sheep.....'"Munch, munch, munch. Baaaaaaaaaaaaa", answered the sheep." When the dullness overwhelms him, he runs to the village, yelling, "There is a wolf after my sheep!" The townspeople arrive en masse and span several centuries, from a knight to a musketeer to 19th-century city-folk in top hats. "That was a fun afternoon," thinks the shepherd, playing leapfrog with a friend who stays behind. Needless to say, he succeeds a second time, but his third effort (in earnest) fails to draw a crowd. Kulikov depicts the wolves as a fearsome hydra, but the boy's punishment is not too severe; the book ends wordlessly, with a spread revealing that the resourceful sheep have clambered up a tree. Hennessy's economic prose repeats key phrases for emphasis, while Kulikov composes comic close-ups with steep perspectives as the intensity heightens. Their shepherd misbehaves, but he's not so bad -he just wants a little excitement. Ages 3-7. "(Mar.)"
Copyright 2006 Publishers Weekly Used with permission.
School Library Journal
PreS-Gr 2 -Aesop -s -The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf - is given new life in this imaginative picture book. The story begs to be read aloud, and the large, colorful, and amusing watercolor-and-gouache paintings are perfect for group viewing. The traditional plot has been expanded to include some catchy refrains: -Munch, munch, munch. Baaaaaaaaaaaaa, answered the sheep, - and -They looked everywhere for the wolf. No wolf in the pasture. No wolf on the hill. No wolf in the forest. - These sheep have big expressive eyes and play leapfrog and put on blindfolds, and boys ride them. Instead of just one, there are three snarling, famished-looking creatures that finally appear when the shepherd boy cries wolf for a third time. The illustrations show an outlandish village with skyscrapers located on what appears to be a plateau in a landscape that is dotted with conical hills and a funny, discordant mix of townspeople that includes a knight running in his armor, women wearing mesh stockings and high lace boots, one man wearing a top hat and another a helmet with fluffy feathers on the top, one with a musketeer hat, and another a baseball cap. Each one is holding a weapon: the usual rakes and shovels, an umbrella, a baseball bat, and even a barber pole. The story ends with a fanciful twist, and the moral is understood but not included. A clever take on an old favorite." -Kirsten Cutler, Sonoma Library, CA"
Copyright 2006 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Gradually, he eased into making a living sketching impressions of Broadway shows for The New York Times and The Herald Tribune. This shift was helped along, in no small part, by a rather heartbreaking incident; he lost his trumpet. One evening, he was so engrossed in sketching people on the subway, he simply forgot it was sitting on the seat beside him. This new career turned out to be a near-perfect fit for Don, though, as he had always loved the theater.
He was introduced to the world of Childrens' Literature, when William Saroyan asked him to illustrate several books. Soon after, he began to write and illustrate his own books, a career he settled into comfortably and happily. Through his writing, he was able to create his own theater: "I love the flow of turning the pages, the suspense of what's next. Ideas just come at me and after me. It's all so natural. I work all the time, long into the night, and it's such a pleasure. I don't know when the time ends. I've never been happier in my life!"
Don died in 1978, after a long and successful career. He created many beloved characters in his lifetime, perhaps the most beloved among them a stuffed, overall-wearing bear, named Corduroy.
Don Freeman was the author and illustrator of many popularbooks for children, including Corduroy, A Pocket for Corduroy, and theCaldecott Honor Book Fly High, Fly Low. For more information about Don Freeman, please visit:
www.donfreeman.info
B.G. Hennessy is the author of Road Builders and The First Night (both Viking and Puffin). She lives in Paradise Valley, Arizona.
JUV002250 - Juvenile Fiction | Animals | Wolves & Coyotes
JUV012030 - Juvenile Fiction | Fairy Tales & Folklore | General
Folklore
